This invention relates to the field of projection televisions, and more particularly to an apparatus for protecting a cathode ray tube during storage and shipment.
In projection television (PTV) applications, a high intensity light beam with a video image is projected through a series of lenses onto a viewing plane. To preserve image quality, the surfaces of the lenses must be kept free of dirt, dust, and smudges that can result from direct handling of the PTV during movement and storage.
Consequently, an additional planar protective element is typically attached over the surfaces to be protected during the manufacturing and shipping process and removed when the PTV is installed at a destination location. Conventional protective planar elements are typically attached to the PTV using adhesive or mechanical fastening elements. This results in time being added to the manufacturing and installation process, which together with the adhesives and fastening elements add unnecessary cost to the finished PTV.
Fasteners and spacers are conventionally used to mount the lenses in a PTV chassis enclosure. However, at present, such conventional mounting apparatus do not include means for holding a protective element It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which will eliminate the need for a separate manufacturing step to add the protective element, thereby reducing the number of fabrication steps, the materials required, and thus the cost of a PTV.
An integrated support apparatus for semi-rigidly attaching a planar protective element to a lens assembly and chassis in a projection television (PTV). The apparatus can be extruded from a PVC material. The apparatus includes an attachment interface comprising a multitude of channels each being constructed to accept in mating arrangement one or more lenses and/or protective elements along an edge dimension of the lenses and/or protective elements.
The apparatus can include molded protrusions that can be arranged to apply retentive pressure against major planar surfaces of the lenses and/or protective element to be attached and supported in the receiving channels. Both rigid structural elements and resilient padding elements of the apparatus can be manufactured together by simultaneously co-extruding a rigid PVC material and a resilient PVC material, respectively. The apparatus can further include protrusions for special separation boundaries in the PTV.